Scientists have created "shimmering" moiré patterns using a supersolid, a paradoxical state of matter that is both a solid and a frictionless liquid.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Moiré and frustration physics of dipolar supersolids under periodic confinement
arXiv · 2603.27983
The Takeaway
Supersolids are materials that flow like a ghost through themselves while maintaining a rigid crystal structure. By placing one of these substances into a laser-light trap, researchers successfully created moiré superstructures—complex visual patterns usually seen in overlapping silks—offering a new way to manipulate the world's strangest materials.
From the abstract
We study the ground-state phases of a two-dimensional dipolar supersolid subjected to external periodic confinement by numerically solving the extended Gross--Pitaevskii equation. Focusing on a regime in which the unconfined system forms an intrinsic triangular droplet crystal, we consider triangular, honeycomb, and square optical lattices and classify them into isostructural and heterostructural settings relative to the spontaneous supersolid order. We map out the stationary states as functions